Which Head Gasket?

[Mj17]

Hi,
Is there an easy way to tell if a head has been skimmed (so requiring thicker gaskets) or...?

[DJT]

MJ,

If the head has been skimmed so that the closed valve still protrudes above the level of the head surface (ie you can't put the head down flat without the valve touching the bench first) then you definitely need x-thick gaskets. The camshaft has to be removed before trying this test so that all valves are in the closed position. If too bad you may need a 'savershim'. If the valves are below the surface then standard gaskets are OK.

Dave

[mikeyb]

With the head upsidedown, look at the bolt on waterway end plates - there should be a step from the bottom face of the plate to the face of the head - if it is level, less than 1mm or showing signs of machining, the head has def been skimmed.

The other way is to put the head back on the car and use plasticine on the top of the pistons to measure min clearance between the valves & pistons.  

[JOHN LEARMONTH]

MJ it is my experiance that savershims dont work my car was fitted with them and the engine failed very quickly,
the problem is that shimsavers intorduce extra faces between the head and the block and without a gasket they dont seal
if you really do need to build back up the material taken off in previous skims then its much better to have the head coated with aluminium, this basically sprays a thin layer of moltern hot metal onto the faces and then it can be skimed back to the correct size
most heads have by now been skimed at some point in their lives

[wakaday]

I always used thick gaskets on rebuilds and always fitted them dry regardless of how much the  heads had been skimmed.